A newsagents in Coggeshall has been targeted by ram-raiders.
Masked ram raiders ripped a cash machine from the front of a shop in Coggeshall this morning, leaving a trail of destruction.
Five men wearing balaclavas used a blue Land Rover, a silver Jeep and chains to pull the ATM from the wall of McColl’s newsagents in Church Street in an attempt to steal it at around 3.10am.
A dog unit pursued the suspects for a number of miles during a chase towards Tiptree which went off-road into fields.
The machine was left in the road outside McColl’s, and the car was later found abandoned.
An extensive search for the suspects was made but no trace was found, a police spokeswoman said.
Sgt Colin Shead from the Essex roads policing unit said: “Both vehicles were pursued by a dog unit who did an excellent job.
“Sadly we were thwarted by them driving across a recently drilled field and we just couldn’t follow them.”
The news comes just months after a series of ram raid incidents across Suffolk and north Essex.
Ram raiders used a digger to remove an ATM from the post office in East Street, Coggeshall, in April – just metres away from the McColl’s store in Church Street.
More than £10,000 was taken after suspects used a digger to crash through a Co-op store in Brightlingsea in late August.
A 38-year-old man was arrested following the incident but was later released without charge.
Raiders damaged the shop window of a Co-op store in Great Bardfield, Essex, in September with a green Land Rover Discovery – but they left empty handed, police said at the time.
The next day a JCB was used to smash into the wall of the Market Hill Co-op in Clare, Suffolk, ripping out the ATM which contained an unknown quantity of cash.
Police did not confirm if any of the above crimes were linked, but asked anyone with information about them to call 101.
The five men officers would like to trace following Sunday’s incident were described as being white and aged in their 20s.
Enquiries are continuing and anyone with information should call police on 101.
Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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